Happy Endings
by OtterAndTerrier
Summary: [COMPLETE] A movie awakens unpleasant memories in Ron. Thankfully, Hermione is there to remind him of certain facts about his-their-life.


**A/N:** Another fic written for Ron/Hermione Week 2015! I came up with this as I watched Tangled because the scene this is about makes me tear up, and Ron's thoughts echo the ones I had in that moment.

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 **Happy Endings**

Rose's bony frame sitting halfway on Ron's lap, halfway on Hermione's, was digging painfully into Ron's leg. Hugo, sound asleep at his other side, resulted in both of Ron's legs feeling rather numb.

Still, he didn't think there was a better way to watch a movie. Well, perhaps he could have done without the pins and needles, he thought, exchanging a wince with Hermione as Rose jumped excitedly on her throne, but he couldn't complain.

At five, Rose was on full Disney mode. Hermione loved for their children to be immersed in every aspect of Muggle culture, especially something that had been so close to her heart during her childhood, but she made it a point to come up with positive, "empowering"—such was her wording—aspects about the princesses Rose so idolized. Even if the alluded had no idea what her mother was on about half of the time.

Having taken her and her cousins to see "Tangled" months ago, Hermione had bought Rose the DVD as soon as it had come out and, after watching it for at least five times on her own, Rose had begged for her parents to sit down with her on a movie night for a sixth round. Hugo had also insisted on it, even if he didn't have the attention span to sit still for two hours. He emulated the rest of his family for a while, tried to engage their attention when he decided movie time was over, and had finally fallen asleep, exhausted, when he couldn't get his way.

A decade after the first movie he'd ever watched and familiar enough with VHS, DVDs and Blu-Rays (why were Muggles so insistent on changing everything after a couple of years? It barely gave him any time to get used to it), Ron didn't consider Tangled to be his preferred genre. He wouldn't have watched it for the sake of it if it hadn't been for the look in his little girl's face. In fact, he had been more entertained watching Rose's reactions to something he suspected she already knew by heart than by the movie itself, which featured lots of hair and singing.

But after all his attempts to talk with Hermione resulted in reproving looks from Rose, Ron found himself watching the thing and wanting to know what would happen next. As the ending approached, Rose became gradually still, which worried Ron slightly. He'd watched enough Disney movies to have formed the opinion that some of them were hardly for children, something at which Hermione always laughed while reminding him of "The Warlock's Hairy Heart".

He looked his wife's way now and caught her eye, a feat, considering she was also engrossed by the story. Hermione smiled at him and pointed her chin to Rose, raising both eyebrows. Ron laughed and got a reprimand.

'Daddy, don't laugh! It's sad!'

'Sorry, love, of course it is,' he said, conciliatory. The second he looked up at the telly, though, he saw that it was indeed sad and—his throat felt suddenly constricted.

The male protagonist had been stabbed, apparently, and it did not look good. As if that wasn't enough, his soon-to-be murderer…

He'd seen her all through the movie, and even though she'd caused him some unease, Ron hadn't been able to pinpoint the reason for it. But now he saw it. It was almost as if someone had made a cartoon version of the real life person that had haunted his and Hermione's dreams for so long. And it wasn't only a physical likeness; this one was a mental bitch, too. See, why was something like _that_ in a kids' movie?

The girl, Rapan—something, was on the floor next to the bloke, crying, desperate to save him.

 _'You were my new dream.'_

Ron hadn't said those words out loud to her, not then, but damned if he hadn't thought them. Reverse roles, and it was almost like—

'Daddy! Are you crying?' Rose shrieked, making Ron jump and blink several times in an attempt to force back the tears that had been threatening to escape.

'No! Of course not, Rosie, I was just trying not to sneeze so I wouldn't interrupt your movie,' he assured her.

'Oh that's fine, Daddy, you _are_ allowed to sneeze!' Rose said brilliantly, looking relieved and pressing the Play button.

As easy as he'd fooled his daughter, he knew the same didn't apply to Hermione, who was watching him intently. He gave her a reassuring smile, but it faltered at her gaze. She always knew.

'You were thinking of… weren't you?' she asked very quietly.

'Yes.'

'When I was… when _she_ …?'

'Yeah. But mainly afterwards, when you… and I thought…'

'Daddy, shhh, you're missing it!'

Ron watched the movie in silence for a moment, Hermione's hand reaching out to squeeze his tightly.

One of the girl's tears had dropped onto the guy, and it started to sort of heal him, like a Phoenix tear, except it was as golden as Felix Felicis. The man woke up, and Rapunzel was so happy—

'You healed me, too,' Hermione whispered in his hear.

'Hardly,' Ron said under his breath, so he wouldn't earn himself another telling-off from a five-year-old. ' _Fleur_ healed you with her potions and spells—'

'No, Ron. You healed me in a different way.'

Ron was about to reply that he still didn't think he'd done enough at the time, that he hadn't been there for her as much as she'd deserved, but their daughter cut him off.

'Look Daddy look, they're happy now!'

He smiled back at Rose and bent to kiss the top of her head; when he straightened up, he found Hermione's lips pressing against his.

'And we are, too,' Hermione told him, her eyes as serious and full of love as the day she said she'd marry him.

Ron could argue all he wanted, and Hermione would prove him wrong most of the time—but there was something that was out of discussion. For him, happy endings would never be overrated.


End file.
